An American couple of Asian descent confined in Qatar for nearly two years over the death of their adopted African daughter -- a prosecution regarded as rife with racial prejudices and cultural misunderstandings -- have been encouraged in recent days that they finally might be permitted to go home.

Advocates for the couple, Matthew and Grace Huang of Los Angeles, said their optimism was based primarily on a blunt statement from the State Department exhorting the Qatari authorities to ''immediately lift the travel ban'' on the Huangs during legal proceedings so they could reunite with their other two children and the rest of their family in the United States. The case has become an irritant in relations between the United States and Qatar, the wealthy Gulf emirate and a valued Arab ally.

The State Department statement also urged the Qatari authorities to ''bring the case to an expeditious and just conclusion.'' It was issued in advance of a hearing Monday for the Huangs in Doha, the Qatari capital, on their appeal of a criminal conviction announced in March.

''We've never seen such strong language,'' said Eric Volz, managing director of the David House Agency, a Los Angeles-based group that helps Americans in legal entanglements overseas and has been assisting the Huangs, who have asserted their innocence. ''I think the State Department understands it's not accurate to look at this case through the lens of a legal process.''

Efforts to reach Qatari officials for comment were not successful. The Qatar Embassy's public affairs office in Washington did not return telephone or email messages.

The Huangs' representatives also expressed hope that the new American ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, who was confirmed in July and started work last month, would take a proactive role in supporting the Huangs, who have been freed from prison pending their appeal but have become increasingly distraught over the family's protracted separation.

The ambassador could not be reached for comment, but an American Embassy spokesman in Doha said in a statement on Friday that diplomatic personnel would be present at the hearing and that the embassy ''has been closely following the case.''

Over the past few years, the Huang prosecution has highlighted what can go wrong when multicultural families encounter suspicions and legal problems in societies where adoption and interracial relationships are considered strange. The case also has thrown an unflattering light on Qatar's slow and overwhelmed Islamic-style judicial system.

Mr. and Mrs. Huang, who moved their family to Qatar because Mr. Huang had accepted a construction engineering job there, were arrested in January 2013 after they rushed their comatose 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, to a Doha hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The police, suspicious about Gloria's thin appearance and different skin color, concluded the Huangs were child traffickers who had starved Gloria to sell her organs. They accused them of murder.

The Huangs contended Gloria had suffered from a chronic eating disorder, a vestige of her hungry childhood in Ghana. The exact cause of death was never determined.

The other two children, boys also adopted from Africa, were placed in an orphanage. But in an early sign that Qatari authorities knew the child-trafficker suspicions were specious, Mrs. Huang's mother was permitted to take custody of the children and return to the United States.

Still, it took nearly a year for the case to reach the point that the Huangs could present their defense. Their lawyers found what they called glaring faults in the prosecution's case, most notably a pathology report that appeared to have been fabricated.

The original murder charge was thrown out in March, replaced by the lesser charge of child endangerment and a conviction that carries a three-year prison term. Lawyers for the Huangs are seeking to have the entire case dismissed in their appeal. Prosecutors are seeking a longer sentence.

In a Skype interview from Doha on Friday, Mrs. Huang said she and her husband spent six to seven hours a day on Skype with their boys, age 8 and 12, and that the State Department's call for a lifting of the travel ban had ''left us hopeful.''

But she also hedged her optimism, not knowing what could happen on Monday. ''It's such a long process with all these tortuous delays,'' she said.

 

 

What are some of the cultural misunderstandings that led to the couple's arrest?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The case of Matthew and Grace Huang an American couple of Asian descent who have been confined in Qatar for nearly two years over the death of their a... View the full answer